CAMPED OUT
Police, social workers try to clear area after it is declared illegal encampment
Although Phoenix has declared the camp illegal, many homeless people, including Sarah Decker, 32, continue to occupy a triangular traffic median along Roosevelt Row.
An official with the city of Phoenix said steps were being taken to clear out a camp of homeless people that has grown over the past few weeks underneath a public art structure along the rapidly developing Roosevelt Row area of downtown Phoenix.
But Marchelle Franklin, the interim director of the city’s human-services division, described the situation as dynamic and complex. Contracted social workers would continue to offer services to the people camped there, she said, while the city prepares to enforce a rule against urban camping.
Although police, alongside the social workers, began clearing out the camp on Wednesday morning, it grew again after sunset. About 15 homeless people said they planned on staying overnight at the makeshift camp under a publicart structure at Roosevelt Road and Third Street.
“If we leave, we’ll just become someone else’s problem. The city knows that, but I don’t think they care,” Josh Nalund said. He’s been living in the area with his wife and two pets for two weeks, saying he didn’t feel safe staying at a shelter west of downtown.
As night fell on Wednesday, many of the people living there had already set up the spots where they would sleep for the night, and some had already covered themselves in several blankets, surrounded by their belongings spread out on the ground, or packed into shopping carts.
Those awake expressed frustration with the situation, saying they felt targeted just for being homeless and staying in such a visible area of the city, amid newly built high rises of condominiums and apartments. But even though they plan on staying until they
are kicked out, they said they don’t intend to put up a fight.
“I’m gonna leave, I’m not gonna resist,” a woman who identified herself as Bear Woman Who Stands Tall said. “I’ve been moved on from so many spots, I don’t want to get into an altercation.”
Police said there were some arrests at the location early Thursday that were not related to the camping issue. The suspects were implicated in a crime committed elsewhere and tracked to the location, police said.
The triangle shaped parcel, formed by Roosevelt Street and the two one-way lanes of Third Street, began becoming a crowded urban campground in December.
This week, the city took action. On Tuesday, it declared the camp illegal and a violation of its ordinance against urban camping.
That ordinance says that people may not sleep or prepare to sleep in or around city buildings, facilities or structures. The art installation, entitled “Shadow Play,” counted as a structure, the city said.
Early Wednesday, the city said there was a water pipe that ran under the concrete in the plaza. That pipe meant the area fell under an additional ordinance that bans blocking a right-of-way.
Officers showed up Wednesday morning. They stood by while people with Community Bridges, an organization contracted to help homeless people, offered services to those there. People camped there were informed they would have to eventually leave.
“We are doing our level best to make sure that everyone we can provide those services to will receive those services,” said Franklin, the city’s human-services director.
Eventually, Franklin said, the city would change course for those who refuse services and begin “moving them off that particular piece of property because it is a right-of-way.”
In the coming days, a city representative said Wednesday, signs will be installed announcing that sleeping or camping in the area will not be allowed. That will serve to warn people not to make a home there.
If the problem persists, a city representative said in an email, officers, as a last resort, could cite or arrest those who do not voluntarily comply.
J.J. Johnson, a civilrights activist who is president of the Black Phoenix Institute, monitored the situation and said the city was being too heavy-handed.
“They are being harassed, bullied and threatened with losing their animals,” he said.
Johnson said the money used on the public artwork on the plaza could have been spent on affordable housing.
Johnson took some of the campers to City Hall on Thursday, aiming unsuccessfully to meet with council members.
The city could have installed temporary bathrooms and showers and allowed the camp to exist until adequate shelter could be found, Johnson said.
As he packed his belongings on Wednesday morning, Wayne Taylor, 52, said, “You can’t blame them, to a point.”
Taylor, who has been living on the streets for about a year, said he found the area safer than the shelter a few blocks to the west. He showed his broken glasses and the cast holding his sprained wrist in place. Those, he said, were the result of a fight at the shelter.
Taylor said the officers treated him and others with respect, giving them time to gather their possessions, and he understood why the camp needed to be disbanded.
“It’s an eyesore,” he said. “This part of town is starting to grow again. I understand.”
Wednesday night, Taylor was back at the camp, getting ready to spend another night on the streets. Thursday morning, he moved on, saying he found a place to stay near another property along Roosevelt.
“If we leave, we’ll just become someone else’s problem.” Josh Nalund Homeless person who has been staying on Roosevelt Row